Can i create a function to tell a button to open a movie clip of the same name - actionscript-3

Question

I am new to the actionscript side of flash,
I am working on a map that has say 20 popups(movieclips) and the countries are the buttons, i have just been informed i need to add 60 more.
Below is an example of the code i have been using
english_movie.visible=french_movie.visible=turkish_movie.visible=false
english_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, englishButtonClick);
french_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, frenchButtonClick);
turkish_btn.addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, turkishButtonClick)
function englishButtonClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
english_movie.visible=true;
english_movie.play();
french_movie.visible=turkish_movie.visible=false
}
function frenchButtonClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
french_movie.visible=true;
french_movie.play();
english_movie.visible=turkish_movie.visible=false
}
function turkishButtonClick(event:MouseEvent):void {
turkish_movie.visible=true;
turkish_movie.play();
english_movie.visible=french_movie.visible=false
}
Im thinking there must be an easier way to do this than replicating the code over and over.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Answer 1

Here's how to simplify the whole thing with code: Each btn object is
related to one movie object. This can be achieved with a Dictionary.
var btnToMovieAssociation:Dictionary = new Dictionary();
btnToMovieAssociation[english_btn] = english_movie; // repeat this line for every btn/movie pair
Now you have to generalise your click handler. The key difference
between each function (apart from making one certain movie visible)
is that they all make certain other movies invisible. But actually,
it's sufficient to only make the previously visible movie invisble.
To do this, create a variable that keeps track of the current visible
movie.
var currentMovie:MovieClip = english_movie;
Initialising the variable with english_movie has no effect on the
program. you can pick any other of the movies. It will make things
easier in the following code if this variable is initialised.
Now your function does effectively this:
make movie of clicked button visible
play this movie
make last movie invisible
Here's the cool part. You only add one listener. Look up if something
is in the dictionary for the clicked thing and consider that the
movie you want to show next.
addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK, buttonClick);
function buttonClick(event:MouseEvent):void
{
var movie:MovieClip = btnToMovieAssociation[event.target]
if (movie == null)
return; // nothing in the dictionary, it wasn't a button that was clicked.
movie.visible=true;
movie.play();
currentMovie.visible = false;
currentMovie = movie;
}
There are problems with this solution:
You still have to declare every pair, which is still tedious and prone to erro. (you have to type every name twice)
If your buttons are made up of several objects, event.target might point to them instead of the button as a whole. But with only
the btns in the dictionary and not all their individual parts,
nothing would be found in the dictionary. This can be circumvented by
setting mouseChildren = false; on every btn.

Answer 2

i posted this question else where and got this response
var tl:MovieClip=this;
var mc:MovieClip;
var i:int;
var buttonA:Array=[english_btn,french_btn,turkish_btn];
for(i=0;i<buttonA.length;i++){
buttonA[i].addEventListener(MouseEvent.CLICK,buttonF);
tl[buttonA[i].name.split("_")[0]+"_movie"].visible = false;
}
function buttonF(e:MouseEvent):void{
for(i=0;i<buttonA.length;i++){
tl[buttonA[i].name.split("_")[0]+"_movie"].visible = false;
}
tl[e.currentTarget.name.split("_")[0]+"_movie"].visible=true;
}
Which works great.